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Restaurateurs and chefs can talk about local ingredients and the importance of supporting independent farmers until their audiences begin to nod off.

Or, they can put the message in pictures, and really drive the point home. The crew at Barndiva in Healdsburg deserves a tip of the dusty John Deere baseball cap for their new film, titled Eat the View, and documenting the journey one plate of food takes as the ingredients travel across Sonoma County, through the Barndiva kitchen, and into the dining room.

In just 4 minutes and 21 seconds, the film tracks across Sonoma to Preston Vineyards, Bellwether Farms, Mix Gardens, Earlybird’s Place and Daniel’s Flats, to capture the origins of virtually every ingredient in a dish except salt. Then, Barndiva chef Ryan Fancher puts it all together, assisted by a brigade of kitchen staff.

Here’s the video:

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Chef Ryan Fancher skates through his film debut

Jil Hales owns Barndiva, along with her husband Geoffrey Hales. She was inspired to make a movie because she noticed that the words “farm to table” started appearing everywhere, and the phrase was losing its meaning.

“Like the use of the words ‘organic’ and ‘artisan’, it’s begun to feel a bit promiscuous,” she said. “There are incredible people behind each and every plate of food we send out into the dining room and it’s a beautiful thing to know who they are. If it helps fill the restaurant, to keep us all employed doing what we love, that’s great. Reminding ourselves why we fell in love in the first place is even better.”

Let’s roll the credits, shall we? Or, as Hales says, “these are the people and animals and plants which keep our engines humming.”

The film was written and produced by Jil Hales. It was directed and filmed by Bay area photographer Drew Kelly, and edited by Amanda Larson of San Francisco.

“Drew and I have been working together for a few years now,” said Hales. “We started going out to farms and shooting stills, trying to think of ways to tell the story of this food shed in the hopes it would cast a light on how knowing where your food comes from really can make a difference wherever you live.”

“Our notion of sustainable is intricately connected to farmers, ranchers, cheese makers, foragers, you name it, including fellow chefs who give a damn about where their food comes from.”

But more than an advertorial for Barndiva, Hales hopes the movie will drum up more support for the locavore, organic cause.

“We may do a 30 second edit of some of the other footage to help the genetically modified food labeling bill, which has some pretty deep pockets on the other side,” she said. “We all need the public’s continued support to keep healthy food sheds thriving.”